Newbury Women end the season on a high

Newbury’s final league game of Championship 1 South against Bath kicked off with a bang as Newbury’s defensive line pressured Bath on receiving the ball and gained a penalty 25m out from the line within 20 seconds of the starting whistle. Chloe Hunt had no trouble slotting the ball between the posts giving Newbury a very early three points.

A clean catch of the ball from kick off started a fantastic phase of play from Newbury with immense carries from Tilly Burn and Zoe Vaughan breaking the gain line and causing Bath to scramble into defence. Newbury’s back line was lying in wait and when released, Meg Carter slotted Lizzie Harris through the defence making yards before being shut down by Bath’s full back. Newbury continued to recycle the ball well but an unfortunate knock on gave Bath a chance to attack.

Gaining possession at the lineout from a tactical kick, Bath attempted to advance up the pitch but were quashed by the Blues’ strong defence phase after phase. Having gained very little ground Bath attempted a chip kick out to their own winger but Jenny Buckley was on hand for Newbury to clean up the ball and set up their exit strategy.

Sadly a clearance kick for the Blues didn’t make touch and Bath were able to utilise this mistake to gain momentum and put Newbury on the back foot. The overlap on the opposite wing was identified by Bath as they released their speedy winger who beat the home defence and crossed the try line. The conversion was successful and Bath took the lead, 7-3.

Gaining possession from the restart, Bath seemed to up the tempo in their attack but again chose to clear the ball behind the Blues’ defensive line. Thankfully, fullback Chloe Darby cleared up the ball before Bath’s winger could get to it. This gave Newbury another opportunity to attack but a fumble of the ball when carried into contact stopped their advancement and the scrum was set.

Possession swapped between the sides from a penalty that Newbury took quickly but unfortunately it was Bath who came away with points as a kick to the open field by Newbury was collected by Bath’s winger who once more sped along the left wing to score again for the travelling team.

Newbury regrouped and multiple penalties given against Bath allowed Newbury to march up the pitch towards the try line. Opportunity arose at a line out where Newbury were given a penalty and, taking it quickly, Meg Horwood charged over the line to close the gap down to 8-12.

Attack from both teams continued to be fierce. This partnered with aggressive defence caused a bout of scrums passing possession between the teams from knock on offences. Newbury gained the most ground from these scrums with scrum half and back of the match, Rachel Martin controlling the ball at the back of the scrum precisely releasing Carter in the centre through the rush defence of Bath. Further attacks by Burn, Horwood and Kirsty Batten had Bath turning on their heels to cobble together a defence that was torn apart by a cohesive and reactive set of play linking ball through the centres and out onto the wing. Newbury edged further into Bath’s 22 but a dropped ball stopped the attacking play.

Bath had the opportunity to get out of the danger zone but the dominant scrum Newbury have displayed all season was too much for the Bath pack and a scrum penalty was given to the home team. Choosing to repeat the scrum, a platform was set to move the ball through the back line to find a space to score. The pace of play from the scrum was electric and not being able to find space to the right, play switched direction and Buckley crashed over the line in the far left corner to complete Newbury’s attacking set of play. This also gave them a one point lead, 13-12.

Bath were not willing to let this lead give Newbury an advantage. A clean up of a knocked on ball on receipt of the restart pushed Bath close to the Blues’ try line. A penalty against Newbury brought Bath closer once more and, although trying to hold up a try, penalty offence was deemed by the referee and Bath managed to squeeze in another try before the half was up.

The second half was not without any less drama than the first as Bath capitalised on a knock on followed by a penalty and quickly drove a mauled lineout over the line to extend their lead from the end of the first half.

Bath continued to be successful at their lineouts but this did not stop Newbury’s scrum from gaining the penalty as Bath caused infringement after a knock on.

The penalties against Bath continued for high tackles and it was Horwood who once again crossed the white wash at the bottom of a pile of blue and green players to keep Newbury in the game.

Despite not converting a kick for goal from a penalty into points, Newbury utilised Bath’s poor exit kick to have ball in hand but a penalty against them returned Bath the ball. It was a flattening tackle from Burn which allowed Carter to steal the ball and Batten to fly through the defence setting off a chain reaction of ground making runs and well timed offloads. The play was finished off again by Horwood making it a hattrick for her and the Blues lead, 25-22.

The high paced game continued but the scrum count as continued to rise as both defensive lines applied pressure.
Bath were desperately trying to claw back some points but it was Newbury with the last points of the day as Georgia Smith calmly slotted a penalty through the posts to push Newbury’s lead to six points clear of Bath.

A last ditch attempt from Bath on the final play at a line out was stopped by Newbury as the away team tried to maul other the line but a huge Newbury retaliation forced the maul into touch giving Newbury the much needed win to close out their season.

Although the 1st XV have now finished for the 2023-24 season the 2nd XV have two remaining games, the first of which is against Didcot at home on Sunday 7th April.